Battles That Changed History

149 3 NAPOLEON’S ELITE MARSHALS Louis-Nicolas Davout (below), one of Napoleon's “Marshals of the Empire,” played a major role at Austerlitz. Napoleon created this title for his favorite generals; many of his military successes depended upon the skills of these loyal subordinates. They formed a new French aristocracy, with Davout later becaming Prince of Eckmühl. 1 FRANCIS HUMILIATED On December 4, 1805, two days after Austerlitz, the proud and reserved Austrian Emperor Francis II humiliatingly submitted to meeting the upstart Emperor Napoleon to request an armistice and discuss peace terms. As a result of the defeat, Austria surrendered the territories it controlled in northern Italy, and Francis renounced the title of Holy Roman Emperor, which had given the rulers of Austria suzerainty over Germany.

150 1700–1900 1 OVERVIEW OF THE BATTLE The Anglo-Portuguese (in red) and French forces (in blue) clashed in the ridges and valleys outside Salamanca. The French attempt to outflank the right of Wellington’s army left them overstretched and exposed to attack by British infantry. In all, five out of eight French divisions were destroyed.

SALAMANCA ◼ 1812 151 Salamanca 1812 ◼ WESTERN SPAIN ◼ ANGLO-PORTUGUESE ALLIANCE VS. FRENCH EMPIRE PENINSULAR WAR Early in 1812, Viscount Wellington (who later became a duke) led an army of British, Portuguese, and Spanish troops out of Portugal into French- occupied Spain as part of the war against Napoleon in the Iberian peninsula (see box, below). In June 1812, Wellington advanced on Salamanca, which was held by French forces under Marshal Auguste Marmont. The two armies were of equal strength, with almost 50,000 men each, but Marmont was expecting reinforcements. For days the two sides maneuvered within sight of one another, each seeking an advantage, until on July 22 Marmont believed he saw a chance to cut off Wellington’s line of retreat to Portugal. The French commander ordered his left wing to outflank the right of the British position, so they marched westward along a ridge across the front of Wellington’s army, where they became separated from the rest of the French troops. Seizing his opportunity, Wellington ordered his infantry to attack uphill at the western end of the ridge. Meeting the French marching column head-on, the British launched a bayonet charge, while their heavy cavalry, wielding sabers, inflicted devastating blows on the French left wing. Marmont was wounded by cannon fire, leaving the French leaderless but still resistent. After more fierce fighting, however, the French abandoned the field. Wellington had won a major victory in a battle that marked a key turning point in the Peninsular War. He inflicted 14,000 losses on Marmont’s army, and liberated Madrid from French control soon afterward, fatally weakening Napoleon’s hold on Spain. THE PENINSULAR WAR (1807–14) This part of the Napoleonic Wars 1 Spanish soliders join the uprising against the French began when France and its ally Spain occupation of Madrid, May 2, 1808 (“Dos de Mayo Uprising”). invaded Portugal, which had refused to join their war against Britain. Napoleon turned on Spain in 1808, leading to a popular uprising against the French in May. Britain sent an army to Portugal, while Spanish guerillas harassed the occupying forces. In 1811, the French were driven from Portugal, then defeated at Salamanca in 1812 and Vitoria in 1813. The war ended as allied forces invaded France over the Pyrenees, and captured Paris. Napoleon abdicated on April 4, 1814.

152 1700–1900 Borodino 1812 ◼ WESTERN RUSSIA ◼ RUSSIAN EMPIRE VS. FRANCE NAPOLEONIC WARS In June 1812, Emperor Napoleon Smolensk–Moscow road at Borodino, fortifying a line of hills of France invaded Russia with an with earthworks. On September 7, Napoleon launched a series army of 250,000 men. The Russians of crude frontal assaults upon the Russian line. Both sides retreated, avoiding a decisive battle. inflicted heavy casualties on the other with cannon fire, and By September, Napoleon was closing the two armies struggled for control of the Bagration flèches— on Moscow but had lost almost half arrow-shaped earthworks on the Russian left—and the of his initial force to starvation, Raevsky Redoubt, where around 20 heavy guns were located. disease, and desertion. Deciding at last to stand and fight French troops repeatedly took these strongpoints only to have the invaders, the Russians appointed veteran Marshal Mikhail them retaken by the Russians in ferocious counterattacks. Kutusov as their commander. He took up position across the By late afternoon, French troops had secured the Raevsky

BORODINO ◼ 1812 153 In context 2 MIKHAIL KUTUSOV Russian general Kutusov lost an eye fighting in the Crimea in the 1770s. Considered the embodiment of Russian patriotism, he was made commander-in-chief in 1812. He attempted no maneuvers at Borodino, letting slaughter take its course. After the battle he withdrew beyond Moscow, keeping his army intact. The road to Moscow The Russian artillery defends The French offers a safe route the Bagration flèches drive back for the withdrawal the Russian of the Russian army The Raevsky left flank Redoubt commands the Russian center 1 CLASH OF CAVALRY French and Russian horsemen clash at the 1 BATTLEFIELD AT BORODINO This 19th-century engraving shows the Raevsky Redoubt, the site of the fiercest fighting at Borodino. About Russian defensive line at the Kalatsha River. There was little fighting on 250,000 men took part in the battle, with roughly equal numbers on the Russian right, where the terrain made an attack difficult. The French, each side. The ferocity of the attacks and counterattacks by massed meanwhile, concentrated their assaults on the center and left, which were infantry and cavalry led to heavy casualties, with around a third of held by General Pyotr Bagration’s 2nd Army. The extreme left of the line the soldiers killed or wounded. was weak, but Napoleon failed to exploit this. Redoubt and the Russian center lay open; however, Napoleon 1 RETREAT FROM MOSCOW As French troops entered Moscow, a fire failed to commit his last reserves, the Imperial Guard, to erupted and destroyed most of the city. Unable to force the Russians into exploit the opportunity for total victory. Kutusov was submission, on October 19, 1812, Napoleon ordered a withdrawal to the able to withdraw his army in good order. west. Starving, frozen, and harassed by the Russian army and partisans, the French forces disintegrated. Less than 30,000 survived the retreat. Losses on both sides had been exceptionally heavy: the Russians suffering 45,000 casualties, the French 35,000. Seven days later Napoleon occupied Moscow, but it was a pyrrhic victory, and soon his Grande Armée embarked on a disastrous winter retreat. His forces depleted, Napoleon lost the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, leading to his overthrow in 1814.

New Orleans 1815 ◼ LOUISIANA ◼ US VS. BRITAIN WAR OF 1812 The War of 1812 between the The US forces lined up behind primitive fortifications between US and Britain officially ended on the Mississippi River and a nearby swamp, and installed a December 24, 1814, when delegates battery of cannon on the opposite bank of the river. Pakenham from both nations signed a peace planned to send a detachment across the river to seize the treaty in Belgium. However, the news battery and fire on the US line from the flank, but the crossing took time to cross the Atlantic, so was delayed. Instead, his infantry advanced in two columns. fighting continued in the US until British artillery was focusing on the US battery, but the US early the following year. At that time, British troops had already artillery bombarded the advancing infantry; at the same time, landed near New Orleans, and US general Andrew Jackson was the morning mist lifted, exposing them. Muskets and cannon undertaking the defense of the town with a ragtag force of shot down the advancing British, few of whom even reached regular soldiers, militia, and assorted volunteers. After some the ditch in front of the US line. Pakenham was among the initial skirmishes, the British army, led by General Edward 300 British killed in less than half an hour. The victory gave a Pakenham, launched a full-scale attack on January 8, 1815. huge boost to patriotic feeling in the newly founded US.

In context 1 BATTLE BY THE MISSISSIPPI The battle of New Orleans took place at the Chalmette plantation on the east bank of the Mississippi 1 LAKE BORGNE To attack New Orleans, the British had to land troops from the River. The few British troops that reached the ditch protecting the sea. However, their approach was blocked by five US gunboats. On December 14, US lines were stranded there because ladders were brought up too more than 1,000 British sailors and marines, rowing in longboats armed with light late. US casualties numbered fewer than 50 dead and wounded. cannon, attacked Jones’s flotilla at Lake Borgne. They captured the gunboats after a fierce fight in which 17 British and six Americans died. 2 GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON Jackson’s role at the battle of New Orleans made him a national hero. As a youth, he had fought the British in the American War of Indepence, and from 1812 he led Tennessee militia in a ruthless campaign against the Creek Indians, culminating in victory at Horseshoe Bend in Alabama in 1814. He went on to serve as US President from 1829 to 1837.

156 1700–1900 Waterloo 1815 ◼ MODERN-DAY BELGIUM ◼ BRITISH, DUTCH, AND PRUSSIAN ARMY VS. FRENCH ARMY NAPOLEONIC WARS Having abdicated in 1814 (see battle with the British at Quatre Bras. Wellington withdrew p.143), Napoleon I was exiled to and took up a defensive position near Waterloo with 68,000 the Mediterranean island of Elba. men, and on June 18, Napoleon’s force of 72,000 attacked. However, in February 1815 he Wellington’s troops fiercely defended positions at Hougoumont escaped to France and reassembled chateau and the farm of La Haye Sainte, and repulsed a his army. He advanced into Belgium frontal assault by French infantry columns with muskets in June, facing the Prussian army and a cavalry charge. Blücher’s army marched in, attacking under Marshal Gebhard von Blücher and the British under the Napoleon’s right flank. The French cavalry charged Wellington’s Duke of Wellington, both supported by the Dutch. On June 16 line repeatedly and threatened to break it, and at around the French defeated the Prussians at Ligny and fought a 6pm, La Haye Sainte fell. The elite French Imperial Guard

WATERLOO ◼ 1815 157 4 THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN Wellington drew N Brussels WELLINGTON § up his forces on the Mont Saint Jean ridge to the south of Waterloo, and Napoleon centered his HILL ¢ Blücher’s forces army at La Belle Alliance, to the south again. advance on La Belle On June 18, while the British and Dutch forces Waterloo Wellington forms up Alliance, taking resisted attacks by the French, the Prussians Mont St Jean south of Waterloo Napoleon by surprise evaded French units on the right and marched to the main scene of the battle, securing victory. Halle ¶ advanced, but even they were no match for the British. Wavre Grouchy arrives Wellington ordered a general attack and, as the Prussians pressed forward too, the French defeat was inevitable. ∞ La Belle too late to However, Wellington described the battle as “the nearest- Alliance intercept Blücher run thing you ever saw in your life.” Napoleon spent the rest Imperial Guard of his life imprisoned on the remote island of St. Helena. open fleeting 3 BRITISH INFANTRY SQUARE When attacked by cavalry, British infantry attack, repulsed Nivelles NAPOLEON BLÜCHER formed hollow squares with lines of bayonets on each side, as seen to the left by British Walhain of this 1874 oil painting by Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux. However, the Mont St formation left the soldiers vulnerable to cannon fire. Wellington’s army suffered Braine-le-Comte Guibert 15,000 casualties; 25,000 of Napoleon’s men were killed or wounded. € Quatre GROUCHY Gembloux French under Ney Bras defeated, but force tactical withdrawl of NEY British forces ¡ Napolean defeats Ligny # Prussians Prussians withdraw, French infantry followed by Grouchy French artillery Anglo-Dutch forces 0 km 2 4 French cavalry Prussian forces 0 miles 2 4

158 1700–1900

BOYACÁ ◼ 1819 159 Boyacá 1819 ◼ CENTRAL COLÓMBIA ◼ INDEPENDENTIST ARMY VS. SPAIN SOUTH AMERICAN WARS OF INDEPENDENCE Spain’s South American colonies had been fighting to free themselves from Spanish rule since 1809. In 1819, the Venezuelan Simón Bolívar assembled an army of local guerrillas, including llaneros (cowboys), and British and Irish veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. Bolívar then led this disparate force across swamps and mountains from Venezuela into New Grenada (Colómbia), toward its capital, Bogotá. A Royalist army, commanded by Colonel José María Barreiro and roughly equal in size to Bolívar’s force, attempted to stop them. The two clashed at the Vargas Swamp in central Colómbia on July 25, then raced toward Bogotá. When Barreiro’s army reached the Teatinos River, they found Bolívar waiting. The Royalists’ vanguard was crossing the river at the Boyacá Bridge, exhausted from marching over harsh terrain and ill-prepared for a fight; Bolivar’s llaneros cavalry attacked and decimated them. The rest of Bolívar’s men emerged from a valley to take the main force by surprise, swiftly overcoming Royalist resistance and taking 1,800 prisoners, including Barreiro. Three days later Bolívar occupied Bogotá, and Spanish rule in New Grenada was at an end. 2 TURNING POINT FOR THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT Bolívar’s victory at Boyacá Bridge is considered the beginning of independence from the Spanish for the north of South America. The forces engaged were quite small, with only some 3,000 men fighting on each side, and Bolívar’s army suffered just 66 casualties. In this 19th-century engraving, Bolívar’s llaneros, identifiable by their long lances, are clearly seen surrounding the Royalist army. COMMANDER SIMÓN BOLÍVAR (1783–1830) Born into a wealthy family in Caracas, Bolívar was a revolutionary and politician who fought for the independence of his native Venezuela from the Spanish. In 1813 he briefly ran the country, but his government was ousted, and Spanish Royalists took back control. His victory at Boyacá ended Spanish rule in New Grenada. In 1821 he won the Battle of Carabobo, which led to Venezuelan independence. He went on to campaign successfully for the liberation of both Ecuador and Peru. His dream was to unite Spanish-speaking South America into a single country, but his vision was never realized, and he died disillusioned in Colómbia aged 47. 4 Simón Bolívar was nicknamed “El Libertador,” or “the Liberator” because of the role he played in South America’s struggle for independence.

160 1700–1900 Balaklava 1854 ◼ CRIMEAN PENINSULA ◼ BRITISH, FRENCH, AND TURKISH ALLIANCE VS. RUSSIA CRIMEAN WAR In March 1854, Britain and France First, the Russians seized the high ground to give their joined the war between Russia and artillery a commanding position, then they advanced across Ottoman Turkey in the Black Sea, the plain toward the port. However, the Scottish infantry lending their support to the Turks. of the 93rd Highland Regiment blocked their path, drawn up During September 1854, an Anglo- in line—described in British accounts as the “Thin Red Line.” French expeditionary force landed The Highlanders held off two Russian cavalry charges in Crimea and laid siege to the with disciplined volley fire. The Heavy Brigade cavalry Russian port of Sevastopol. On October 25, in an attempt counterattacked, charging uphill to drive the Russians back. to disrupt the siege, the Russian army attacked the main Unfortunately for the British, this was not the end of the British supply port, Balaklava. battle. Observing the action from a hilltop, the British

BALAKLAVA ◼ 1854 161 In context The Heights ∞ Fedioukine Heights Chasseurs d’Afrique commander Lord Raglan saw the Russians carrying off RAGLAN some captured artillery and issued an order for the Light Brigade cavalry to retake the guns. The message became CARDIGAN garbled in transmission—the Light Brigade’s commander, Lord Cardigan, misinterpreted it and sent his men on a frontal Woronzoff Road ¢Light North Valley charge against a Russian artillery battery. Almost half of the 660 cavalrymen were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner, and Brigade the British fell back on their defenses in front of Balaklava, allowing the Russians to claim a victory. Sevastopol held out Heavy BrigadCeauseway Heights ¡ under siege for a further 11 months. # ¡ Argyll and Sutherland South Valley N Highlanders Canrobert’s Hill € LUCAN to Balaklava British and Allied infantry Russian infantry 0 km 0.5 1 British and Allied cavalry Russian cavalry 0 miles 0.5 British redoubt Russian artillery 1 ATTACK AND COUNTERATTACK The battle began with the Russian seizure of the high ground from the Ottoman troops ¡. The Russians then attacked down South Valley €, but were repulsed by the British #. However, Russian artillery fired on the charge of the Light Brigade along North Valley from both the front and flanks ¢. The French cavalry tried to protect the British cavalry by attacking Russian batteries on the Fedioukine Heights ∞. Worm for extracting Elevating wheel for unfired charge from changing angle of fire gun barrel 1 END OF AN ERA At the time of the Crimean War, muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon like this field gun were the standard artillery for both sides. Essentially unchanged since the Napoleonic Wars, they fired solid shot or varieties of explosive shell. But a technological revolution was underway. Many infantrymen in Crimea had rifle muskets—muzzle-loaded arms with rifled barrels—and the 1860s saw the arrival of breech-loading artillery with rifled barrels and the first machine-guns. 2 INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH This 19th-century painting by William Simpson depicts the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade, also immortalized by Alfred Tennyson in his poem. The battle hinged on two cavalry charges, the first by the British Heavy Brigade and the second by the hussars, light dragoons, and lancers of the Light Brigade. Although famous as a military blunder, the cavalry did reach the Russian lines and inflicted almost as many casualties as they suffered.

162 Solferino 1859 ◼ NORTHERN ITALY ◼ FRANCO-PIEDMONTESE ALLIANCE VS. AUSTRIA ITALIAN WARS OF INDEPENDENCE In 1859, French emperor army at Magenta in northern Italy, then pursued them east Napoleon III formed an alliance toward the Mincio River. On June 24, the allies attacked the with the kingdom of Piedmont- Austrians again, catching them off guard while they prepared Sardinia, then ruled by Victor their own offensive. The troops on the Austrian left had Emmanuel II, aiming to drive the spread themselves too thinly preparing to envelop the enemy, Austrian Empire out of northern and were put under pressure by the superior allied force. In Italy. The French troops traveled the center of the battlefield at the village of Solferino, the to Italy by train—the first time an army had been mobilized Austrians hastily entrenched themselves and inflicted massive by rail. The Franco-Piedmontese forces (commanded by losses on the French troops, but the French managed to break Napoleon) clashed with Emperor Franz Joseph I’s Austrian through enemy lines in the early afternoon. At San Martino on

163 1 PIEDMONTESE TROOPS ATTACK AT SAINT MARTIN The forces of the LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE III (1808–73) kingdom of Piedmont–Sardinia are depicted (left) during the fighting at San Martino on the northern flank of the battlefield. The Piedmontese suffered Louis Napoleon Bonaparte 1 This portrait of Napoleon III was heavy losses, and felt betrayed when their ally France later made peace was the nephew and heir to painted by German artist Franz Xaver with Austria but still allowed the Austrians possession of Venice. However, Emperor Napoleon I. Elected Winterhalter in 1855. following the wars of independence, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed president of the French king of a united Italy in 1861. Second Republic in 1848, in 1852 he staged a coup to the Austrian right, Franz Joseph’s armies fought off brave establish the Second French attacks by the determined but poorly organized Piedmontese Empire, becoming Emperor forces. Eventually the Austrians accepted defeat and Napoleon III. Family tradition abandoned the field, their retreat covered by a rainstorm compelled him to pursue that made pursuit impossible. military adventures, but he had none of the tactical Shocked by the slaughter (40,000 men had been killed, genius of his uncle. He wounded, or had gone missing), Napoleon had no wish engaged France in the to continue. One witness of the battle’s aftermath, Swiss Crimean War in 1853–56 businessman Henri Dunant, was so horrified that in 1863 and the war against Austria he founded what became the Red Cross. in 1859. In 1870, he blundered into war with Prussia and was taken prisoner. Released in 1871, he spent his last years in exile in Britain.

164 1700–1900 4 BATTLEFIELD MAP OF ANTIETAM The two armies were separated by Antietam Creek, except on the Confederate left where McClellan had moved Union troops across the water before the battle. McClellan failed to capitalize on his superior numbers, or coordinate operations in different sectors of the field. This allowed Lee to move troops to wherever they were most needed. ¡ 6am: Union 1st Corps advances from the north down the Hagerstown Pike; savage fighting follows in Miller’s Cornfield and the West Woods, which change hands several times over the course of the battle. € 9:30am: Union troops cross Antietam Creek and attack the Confederate center. Confederates positioned in a sunken lane, later known as Bloody Lane, hold out until 1pm. McClellan fails to exploit his success when the position is taken. # 10am–1pm: Union soldiers fight to cross a bridge over the creek, later called Burnside’s Bridge. By 4pm, the Confederates are struggling to hold their position when a division arriving from Harpers Ferry drives back the Union left flank.

ANTIETAM ◼ 1862 165 Antietam 1862 ◼ NORTHEASTERN US ◼ UNION ARMY VS. CONFEDERATE ARMY AMERICAN CIVIL WAR In 1861, civil war broke behind Antietam Creek. McClellan had around out in the US after bitter 80,000 men, whereas Lee had fewer than 30,000, disputes over slavery although thousands were marching to join him. between Union states, where abolitionism was The Union forces launched a series of attacks gaining popularity, and on the Confederate left, which resulted in rebel Confederate states numerous casualties and stalemate. Union troops (see p.166). In September 1862, Confederate broke through in the center, but failed to press general Robert E. Lee led his army into the Union home their advantage. On the Union left, General state of Maryland, and a copy of Lee’s movement Ambrose Burnside suffered heavy losses as his men orders fell into the hands of Union commander crossed a narrow bridge under Confederate fire; in General George McClellan. Learning that Lee the afternoon, Union troops crossed the creek via had divided his forces into two weaker groups, a ford to the south. Lee’s cause almost appeared McClellan saw the chance to “destroy the rebel lost, but a fresh Confederate division arrived, army,” as ordered by President Abraham Lincoln, but forcing Burnside’s Union troops to pull back, he moved too slowly to trap his opponent. Lee, after and the savage day’s fighting ended. Although withdrawing toward Virginia, assembled his troops he had 20,000 reserves, McClellan decided not and joined battle on September 17 at Sharpsburg, to continue the battle the following day, allowing Lee to escape beyond the Potomac. In context 1 UNION TROOPS ADVANCE ON DUNKER CHURCH In the 1 LINCOLN VISITS MCCLELLAN AT ANTIETAM opening stages of the battle, the Union forces, well equipped Angered by McClellan’s failure to crush Lee’s army, and smartly uniformed, launched successive attacks against Abraham Lincoln sacked him after visiting the the left side of the Confederate line around the whitewashed battlefield. Even so, the battle was a Union victory Dunker Church. Between them the two sides suffered almost and strengthened the president’s hand, allowing 23,000 casualties in the battle—the most recorded fatalities him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, in one day’s fighting in American history. freeing slaves in Confederate territory.

166 1700–1900 Gettysburg 1863 ◼ NORTHEASTERN US ◼ UNION ARMY VS. CONFEDERATE ARMY AMERICAN CIVIL WAR In June 1863, after a series of victories over the Union forces, General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia invaded Pennsylvania. On June 28, President Abraham Lincoln appointed General George Meade to command the Union Army of the Potomac, with orders to seek out and destroy Lee’s army. However, the battle of Gettysburg began by accident on July 1 when a Confederate division, raiding the town of Gettysburg in search of shoes, unexpectedly encountered Union cavalry. A firefight broke out, and the scattered elements of both armies hastened toward the fighting. Showing their habitual aggression, the Confederates drove the Union forces back to a ridge south of the town by the end of the day. Further troops continued to arrive, some 90,000 Union and 70,000 Confederate soldiers eventually engaging. On the second day, the Confederates delivered their main assault against the left wing of the Union defenses, with a subsidiary attack on the right at Culp’s Hill. The Union soldiers held their ground, notably at a high point known as Little Round Top, which was defended by the 20th Maine regiment. On the third day, Lee ordered three divisions under General James Longstreet, one led by Major General George Pickett, to launch a final attack on the Union center. This frontal assault ended in disaster, as Union firepower mowed down the advancing infantry. Content with what he had achieved, Meade allowed Lee’s shattered army to withdraw without further harassment. THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR (1861–65) By June 1861, 11 southern states had seceded from the US, forming the Confederate States of America. President Abraham Lincoln decided to use military force to maintain the Union. The Confederacy had inferior resources but won many of the early battles. However, in summer 1863, the Gettysburg disaster left the southern states facing inevitable defeat. A grinding attritional strategy masterminded by General Ulysses Grant brought the Union forces to victory in April 1865. At a cost of 600,000 lives, the war ended slavery and upheld the unity of the United States. 4 Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, led his country through its bloodiest chapter—the Civil War.

GETTYSBURG ◼ 1863 167 1 DECISIVE COMBAT The climax of the battle came on July 3 with the massed Confederate attack known as Pickett’s Charge. Fired upon by Union cannon and by infantry sheltered behind stone walls, only a fraction of the 15,000 Confederate infantrymen reached the Union line. They were then driven back by Union counterattacks in hand-to-hand fighting.

168 1700–1900 In detail N 0 km 0.5 1 1 LEEWillou ghby Run Gettysburg ¡ A.P. HILL The battle of Gettysburg was lost through 0 miles 0.5 Hanover Road July 3, 11am: Confederate errors rather than won by inspired Union PETTIGREW EWELL Confederate generalship. Fatally, General Lee lacked his most gifted € attack on Culp’s commander, General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, who was Culp’s Hill driven back killed at Chancellorsville in May, 1863. On the first day of the 1pm: Cemetery Hill battle, the Confederates, having driven the Union forces Intense Confederate Hill JOHNSON back to Cemetery Hill, failed to launch an immediate uphill assault, instead giving their enemy time to consolidate barrage begins Seminary Ridge their defensive position. Had Jackson been on the field, it is possible that the Confederates would have used bolder Fairfield Road tactics. Once the Union troops were stationed on the high ground, Lee’s subordinate general, James Longstreet, urged TRIMBLE HOWARD him to outflank the enemy, and so threaten their rear and force them to withdraw without further fighting. However, § Cemetery Ridge SLOCUM Baltimo Lee insisted that his superior troops could crush the Union re Turn army. Overruled, the reluctant Longstreet was slow to send 5pm: HANCOCK Rock Creek pike his men forward on the second day. On the third day, with Only half the men MEADE a heavy heart, he ordered the frontal attack known as Pickett’s Charge. He was convinced that it would fail, and make it back to Peach BIRNEY # it did. The battle marked the high point of the last major Confederate lines Orchard Confederate advance northwards. PICKETT Emmitsburg Road Wheat eld 1:15pm: Union forces reply LONGSTREET Little ∞ with bombardment Devil’s Round Top SYKES of Confederate ¢ Den positions 3pm: SEDGWICK 4pm: Over 13,000 Big Small group of men led by Confederates charge Round General Lewis A. Armistead Union center Top briefly penetrates Union line Union forces 3 July Confederate forces 3 July 1 GETTYSBURG, DAY THREE On July 1, the fighting began to the north and west of Gettysburg—then the Union forces fell back to the high ground stretching from Culp’s Hill to the Round Tops. On the second day, the Confederates attacked the Union left and right without making decisive gains. The third-day advance against the Union center by three Confederate divisions failed because of the intensity of Union firepower.

GETTYSBURG ◼ 1863 169 3 CONFEDERATE FLAG Union 3 UNION FLAG The Civil War-era United Cast bronze Flared muzzle troops captured this flag of the 11th States flag bore 34 stars, one for each state smoothbore barrel Mississippi Infantry Regiment at of the Union. The 23 states that stayed loyal Gettysburg. Taking part in Pickett’s to the Union when the Confederacy was Charge, the regiment was almost created contained four-fifths of America’s wiped out, losing 340 of the 393 white population, nine-tenths of its industry, men who took part in the action. and three-quarters of its railroads. Elevation screw for raising and lowering barrel 3 UNION VOLUNTEER INFANTRY The Union Rod for ramming troops that fought at Gettysburg were all charge into muzzle volunteers, mostly enlisted for three years’ service in the early months of the war. They 1 CIVIL WAR NAPOLEON CANNON This 12-pounder brass smoothbore cannon were far better equipped and supplied than their was the most common artillery piece of the American Civil War. It fired cannonballs Confederate opponents, who rarely had proper and explosive shells as well as shrapnel or canister shot that sprayed iron or lead uniforms and were often short of adequate balls on advancing infantry. More than musketry, it was Union cannon fire that cut footwear. This picture was taken by one of the down the massed Confederate infantry in Pickett’s Charge. first war photographers, Alexander Gardner. 1 HOSPITAL TENT This photograph, taken after the battle, shows an army surgeon preparing to operate on a wounded man lying on a table. The best available treatment for many wounds was amputation, but one in four amputations killed the patient. More than 3,000 Union troops and almost 5,000 Confederates lost their lives in the battle, and some 30,000 men in total were wounded.

Königgrätz 1866 ◼ MODERN-DAY CZECH REPUBLIC ◼ PRUSSIA VS. AUSTRIA AUSTRO–PRUSSIAN WAR In June 1866, war broke out adopted a defensive position at the Elbe River, between between Prussia and Austria over the Sadowa and Königgrätz (now in the Czech Republic). However, two nations’ rival claims to leadership communication between Moltke and his armies, which relied of the German states. Exploiting his on the electric telegraph, broke down in the lead-up to the country’s excellent railroad system, battle, leaving his 100,000-strong Second Army still marching Prussian chief-of-staff Helmuth toward the battleground when the fighting began on the von Moltke rapidly moved three morning of July 3. As a result, the Austrians outnumbered armies to the Austrian border, seizing the strategic initiative. the Prussians at the start of the battle. The Austrians also had Outmaneuvered, Austrian commander Ludwig Benedek excellent artillery, including the latest breech-loading rifled

KÖNIGGRÄTZ ◼ 1866 171 In context 1 PRUSSIAN INFANTRY IN ACTION Prussian foot soldiers were armed with the Dreyse needle gun, a breech-loading bolt-action rifle that had a higher rate of fire and greater accuracy than the Austrians’ muzzle-loaded Lorenz rifles. The Prussian rifle could be reloaded by a soldier lying prone, while the Lorenz had to be reloaded standing. The Prussian infantry were also superior in training and discipline. 1 A HARD-FOUGHT VICTORY This 1866 painting shows the Prussian king Wilhelm I and his entourage arriving at the battlefield after the decisive victory at Königgrätz (also known as the Battle of Sadowa). The Prussian armies had lost 2,000 killed and 7,000 wounded, but Austrian casualties were far more severe with 44,000 men dead, wounded, or taken prisoner. The victory was a decisive step toward Wilhelm I being crowned Emperor of Germany five years later. cannon. Taking the offensive, the Prussians initially suffered heavy 1 THE “IRON CHANCELLOR” PREVAILS Otto von casualties, but in the early afternoon an Austrian counterattack Bismarck, the architect of German unification, was on hand broke down in the face of the Prussian infantry’s rifle fire. to observe the victory at Königgrätz. As chief minister of Prussian King Wilhelm I from 1862, Bismarck fought wars The belated arrival of the Prussian Second Army, smashing into against Denmark, Austria, and France that led to the the Austrian flank, settled the outcome. The Austrians withdrew founding of the German Empire in 1871. He served as in disorder, their retreat covered by brave cavalry charges that chancellor until 1890. prevented a Prussian pursuit. The peace terms imposed on Austria left Prussia in control of northern Germany and poised to push for German unification under Prussian leadership.

172 1700–1900 Sedan 1870 ◼ NORTH-EASTERN FRANCE ◼ GERMAN STATES AND PRUSSIA VS. FRANCE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR The Prussian chief cavalry attempted to break out, launching near- minister Otto von Bismarck suicidal charges against the Prussian lines. These provoked French Emperor efforts failed, and Napoleon was urged to lead Napoleon III into declaring a final breakout attempt, but he had no interest war in July 1870. The in such a costly gesture. Instead, on the morning Prussians were joined by of September 2, he surrendered to Prussian King the armies of the German Wilhelm I. He and 100,000 of his men were captured states, except Austria. The French mobilization was and the Second French Empire collapsed. An uprising slow and chaotic, which allowed the Prussians to in Paris followed, leading to the establishment of seize the initiative. Their chief-of-staff, Helmuth the French Third Republic. By the end of the Franco- von Moltke, outmaneuvered the French: one Prussian War in May 1871, France had lost both army was besieged in Metz while another, led Alsace and Lorraine to a newly united Germany and by Napoleon and Marshal Patrice de MacMahon, had to pay substantial reparations. The humiliating fell back to the fortress town of Sedan. defeat stirred discontent in France. By September 1, the 120,000 French soldiers were encircled inside Sedan and under fire from over 4 FIGHTING AT BAZEILLES In the opening stages of the battle 400 Prussian guns. Napoleon was ill and MacMahon of Sedan the Prussians savagely attacked the French troops on the wounded, so the troops were left without effective streets of this village 2 miles (3.5 km) south of town, as seen in this leadership. Showing outstanding courage, groups of 19th-century print. The willingness of French soldiers to fight to the death contrasted starkly with Napoleon's defeatism. France suffered 17,000 casualties, compared with some 9,000 on the Prussian side. In context 1 THE SIEGE OF PARIS After Sedan, the French Republican government 1 THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE On January 18, 1871, established itself, and refused to accept defeat. The Prussians besieged Paris during the siege of Paris, Prussia's King Wilhelm I was and fighting continued elsewhere in France; the Paris garrison made sorties, declared Emperor of Germany at a ceremony held in the such as this surprise bridge attack, but their resistance was gradually worn Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The unification of all the down. Paris eventually fell on January 28, 1871, but was plunged into more German states except Austria under Prussian leadership bloodshed with the uprising of the Paris Commune only weeks later. created the most formidable military power in Europe.

SEDAN ◼ 1870 173

174 1700–1900 Little Bighorn 1876 ◼ MONTANA, MIDWESTERN US ◼ PLAINS INDIAN WARRIORS VS. US GREAT SIOUX WAR Since the mid-19th century, tribespeople, including 1,500 to 2,000 warriors, the US government had been led by the Sioux Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, moving Native Americans to gathered at an encampment by the Little Bighorn River reservations. However, many in Montana. On June 25, Lieutenant Colonel George A. resisted, in particular the leaders Custer, leading some 600 men of US Seventh Cavalry, of the Sioux Plains Indians. located the camp; although reinforcements were a day’s march away, he chose to attack. In 1875, following the discovery of gold in South Dakota, the US army sent Major Marcus Reno led 140 troopers in the initial troops to move the local population. By spring 1876, assault. The attack caught the Plains Indians by surprise, angry at white encroachments on their lands, several but they counterattacked, driving Reno’s men back to a thousand Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho defensive position on a hill. Meanwhile, Custer led 210

men along a ridge to attack the camp from the other side. LITTLE BIGHORN ◼ 1876 175 They were repelled as Crazy Horse’s warriors swarmed uphill toward them. For a while, the troopers’ rifle fire held the In context warriors off, but once the skirmish line broke, Custer and his men were doomed. Pursued by Crazy Horse’s warriors, 2 SIOUX LEADER they were trapped on what has become known as Last Leader of the Stand Hill. A final warrior charge swept over them and the Hunkpapa Sioux, few survivors were killed as they tried to flee. Reno’s men Sitting Bull inspired and the rest of the Seventh Cavalry held out until the next the Little Bighorn day, when the Plains Indians broke off the fight—their largest gathering. During victory over the US government. the battle, he rallied the Native American warriors and saw to the safety of the women and children, while Chief Crazy Horse went to meet the US attackers. After the battle, Sitting Bull fled to Canada. He died in 1890 at the Battle of Wounded Knee—the last major clash of the war. 3 PLAINS INDIAN SHIELD An important part of a warrior’s equipment, along with bows, lances, clubs, and knives, shields were decorated with symbols that endowed them with magical force, providing spiritual assistance as well as physical protection. By the time of Little Bighorn, warriors were also using rifles and pistols bought from white traders or captured from enemies, although they still maintained traditions from premodern warfare. Round wooden frame traditionally about 3 ft (91 cm) across Layers of hardened, painted rawhide stretched across frame Eagle feathers used for decoration—the bird was believed to have powers in warfare 2 THE DEFEAT OF THE US ARMY This depiction of the final stage of Little Bighorn, when the Plains Indian warriors on horseback pursued scattered US soldiers, was painted by an unknown Sioux. Both sides fought much of the battle dismounted, firing rifles from behind cover. The total US losses were 268 killed and 55 seriously wounded; the dead included two of Custer’s brothers. Estimates of the number killed among the Plains warriors range from 31 to 300.

176 1700–1900 If we went to war to overthrow the military system of Zululand, in what way have we succeeded? LADY FLORENCE DIXIE ON THE ANGLO–ZULU WAR IN A DEFENCE OF ZULULAND AND ITS KING, 1882

ISANDLWANA ◼ 1879 177 Isandlwana 1879 ◼ SOUTH AFRICA ◼ ZULU WARRIORS VS. BRITAIN ANGLO–ZULU WAR This war began as a campaign of colonial expansion. In December 1878, British authorities delivered an ultimatum to the Zulu king Cetshwayo (see below), requiring him to give up a group of Zulus accused of raiding British territory. He failed to comply, so in January 1879 Lord Chelmsford, British army commander in southern Africa, launched an invasion from Natal. Chelmsford divided his force into three. The central section crossed the Buffalo River, the border between Natal and Zululand, at Rorke’s Drift and camped at the foot of Isandlwana Hill. Chelmsford rode off in search of the Zulu and, seriously underrating their military prowess, left his camp defended by just 1,500 men, including 800 British regulars of the 24th Foot and native infantry. Cetshwayo mobilized his army, and his lightly-equipped, barefooted warriors moved in to repel the invaders. On January 22, 15,000 Zulu attacked the British. They adopted their traditional “buffalo-horn” formation—the main “body” delivered a frontal assault, while the two “horns” outflanked the British to the right and left. At first the British army’s rifles and field guns held the frontal attack, but they were soon overwhelmed by Zulu spears—only a few men on horseback escaped. Bizarrely, a solar eclipse plunged the battlefield into darkness as the slaughter began. Six months later, the British crushed the Zulus. 1 DOOMED BRITISH TROOPS The British In context Army Redcoats are depicted making a resolute last stand against Zulu warriors armed with 2 KING CETSHWAYO A strong shields and small spears in this 19th-century military leader, Cetshwayo was the painting of the battle. Some 800 British soldiers last king of the independent Zulus. and almost 500 of the Africans fighting with Born in 1826, he took control of them were killed—it was not a Zulu custom Zululand in 1856 after defeating to take prisoners. The Zulu dead numbered his brothers in a power struggle, between 1,000 and 2,000 men. but was not proclaimed king until 1873, following the death of his father Mpande in 1872. A formidable presence, his dignified response to defeat won the sympathy of his British captors. He was exiled to Cape Town,then in 1882 to London. He returned to Zululand in 1883, but died in February 1884. 4 TRADITIONAL ZULU WEAPONRY The Zulu warriors used these short spears, or “iklwa,” and cowhide shields, or “isihlangu.” Rather than throwing their spears from distance, they chose to fight at close quarters and, protected by the shields, delivered a deadly upward thrust to their enemy. Cetshwayo’s men did carry firearms, but the weapons were of poor quality and they had not been properly trained to use them.

178 1700–1900 Directory: 1700–1900 CULLODEN SIEGE OF YORKTOWN escape, Cornwallis surrendered on Native Americans, who lost 50 warriors, October 19. Britain accepted it would abandoned Prophetstown, which JACOBITE RISING OF 1745 AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR have to recognize US independence. Harrison burned to the ground. 1746 ■ SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS ■ 1781 ■ EASTERN US ■ AMERICAN TIPPECANOE 3NAVARINO JACOBITES VS. LOYALIST BRITISH ARMY CONTINENTAL ARMY AND FRANCE VS. BRITAIN TECUMSEH’S WAR GREEK WAR OF INDEPENDENCE In 1745 France was at war with Britain, and backed Charles Edward Stuart The US had been fighting for 1811 ■ MID-WESTERN US ■ US 1827 ■ SOUTHERN GREECE ■ BRITISH, (Bonnie Prince Charlie) in trying to independence from Britain since 1775, VS. SHAWNEE FRENCH, AND RUSSIAN NAVIES VS. reestablish his Catholic family on the and was supported by France. In August TURKISH AND EGYPTIAN NAVIES British throne in place of the Protestant 1781, General Charles Cornwallis led a Chief of the Shawnee tribe, Tecumseh, Hanoverians. Charles landed in the Outer 7,000-strong British army to Yorktown, had tried to organize Native Americans to Navarino (now Pylos) was the last Hebrides in July and marched south to Virginia, a port on Chesapeake Bay. resist the transfer of their land to the US naval battle of the age of sail. In July England with his Jacobite followers. Failing They built a fortified camp and awaited government. William Henry Harrison, 1827, Britain, France, and Russia joined to rouse popular support, he retreated reinforcements from the sea. But on governor of Indiana Territory, saw this as in a war alongside Greece, fighting for north, pursued by a loyalist British army September 5, French warships defeated a threat and sought to increase the pace independence from the Ottoman Empire. under the Duke of Cumberland. On April 16, a British fleet off Chesapeake Bay, of pioneer settlement. In 1811, Harrison Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, the British 1746, at Culloden Moor outside Inverness, leaving Yorktown under naval blockade. marched 1,000 soldiers and militia to naval commander in the Mediterranean, Charles’s force of Scottish Highland General George Washington, commander Tecumseh’s village at Prophetstown on was trying to imposing a cease-fire. clansmen and Irishmen engaged of the American Continental Army, and the Tippecanoe river, and made camp. After an Egyptian fleet joined Ottoman Cumberland’s army. The loyalists opened General Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau, Tecumseh was away and had left his warships off Navarino on the Peloponnese with heavy gunfire, inflicting severe losses commander of a French expeditionary brother, Tenskwatawa, in charge. Early peninsula, the British blockaded the bay, on the disorganized Jacobites. When the force, moved 16,000 troops to confront on November 7, Tenskwatawa’s 700 where they were joined by French and Jacobites finally attacked, they were Cornwallis’s army. Digging entrenchments warriors attacked the camp. In confused, Russian squadrons. As negotiations driven back by disciplined British troops, opposite the British, the US and French close-quarters fighting, 62 of Harrison’s stalled, the Allied commanders decided and within an hour the battle was over. launched an artillery bombardment and soldiers were killed or mortally wounded, to take action. On October 20, their Defeated, Charles fled to France and made seized two crucial fortifications. With no but they fought off the attack. The combined fleets sailed into Navarino bay, no more attempts on the throne. QUIBERON BAY SEVEN YEARS’ WAR 1759 ■ NORTHERN FRANCE ■ BRITAIN VS. FRANCE In 1759, France planned to invade Britain, This 19th-century Greek print depicts the aftermath of the battle at Navarino. aiming to end British participation in the Seven Years’ War. The Royal Navy, however, had blockaded the main French fleet in Brest. In November, bad weather forced the British to raise the blockade and 21 French heavy warships set sail, pursued by 24 British equivalents, which caught up with them off Quiberon Bay, Brittany, on November 20. A westerly gale was blowing and the French commander led his ships into the bay, believing that the British would not dare follow among the shoals and reefs in heavy seas. But the British entered the bay, and a desperate fight ensued. Two French ships sank and five others were captured or ran aground. Seven escaped into the shallow Vilaine River after throwing their guns overboard. For the loss of two ships, the British had crippled France’s sea power and neutralized the threat of invasion.

179DIRECTORY ◼ 1700–1900 where more than 70 Egyptian and Ottoman ships were anchored. The Allies had only 22 ships, but their guns were far superior. In four hours, 70 Ottoman and Egyptian ships were destroyed or disabled, with no Allied ship losses. Greece became independent in 1832. SAN JACINTO TEXAS REVOLUTION 1836 ■ SOUTHERN US ■ TEXAS VS. MEXICO In October 1835, American settlers in the The Ethiopian army battles against Italian troops at the Battle of Adowa in this locally produced painting. Mexican province of Texas rebelled against the Mexican government. The Mexican FIRST BULL RUN Taiping ruled of much of southern for a dawn attack. By daybreak on March president, Antonio López de Santa Anna, China, but the Qing retaliated, backed by 1, however, his men were in disarray after led an army to regain control of his AMERICAN CIVIL WAR Western powers. From March 1864, the an overnight move on difficult terrain, territory. His forces initially defeated the Qing besieged Nanjing, the rebel capital. and dispersed groups of Italian soldiers Texans at the Alamo in March 1836. The 1861 ■ EASTERN US ■ Both armies were vast, with 500,000 were surrounded by Ethiopian warriors. Texan army, led by General Sam Houston, CONFEDERATES VS. UNION Qing troops facing around 300,000 More than 10,000 Italians were killed, spent weeks in retreat, pursued by Santa Taiping. On June 1, Hong Xiuquan died, but wounded, or captured. Italy would not Anna. Houston avoided direct clashes; his Also known as First Manassas, this was his general, Li Xiucheng, continued the conquer Ethiopia until the 1930s. numbers grew with new recruits, and the opening battle of the American Civil defense of the city. With supplies from training improved. On April 20, the two War, in which 11 southern states (the Western allies, the Qing army launched a OMDURMAN armies camped in swampland near the Confederates) broke away from the cannon bombardment of the city, while San Jacinto River, ready to engage. On Union in a dispute over slavery. Each engineers dug tunnels under the walls. On MAHDIST WAR April 21, Houston’s 900 men moved side had hastily assembled armies of July 19, the Qing detonated explosives in stealthily toward the Mexican camp, and raw volunteers. The Union forces, led the tunnels, allowing their troops to flood 1898 ■ CENTRAL SUDAN ■ ANGLO- fired at close range before charging on by General Irvin McDowell, marched from through the breach. After three days of EGYPTIAN ARMY VS. MAHDIST foot and horseback. Caught off guard, Washington, D.C. They met Confederate fighting, around 100,000 Taipeng were SUDANESE ARMY almost all the Mexican force of 1,300 troops under General Pierre Beauregard dead, many by suicide in the face of men were killed, wounded, or taken defending the Manassas railroad junction surrender. Li Xiucheng was captured and The Islamic Mahdist movement in Sudan prisoner. Santa Anna was captured and behind Bull Run river. McDowell sent executed. The rebellion did not last long. revolted against rule by Egypt, which signed a peace treaty on May 14; Texas his troops across a ford in a surprise attack itself had been dominated by Britain became an independent republic. on the Confederates, resulting in a 1ADOWA since 1882. In 1898, General Herbert savage and disorganized fight. Both Kitchener led a force of 26,000 British SOBRAON sides were motivated but poorly trained, FIRST ITALO–ETHIOPIAN WAR and Egyptian troops down the Nile into inexperienced, and badly equipped. The Sudan. At Omdurman, outside Khartoum, FIRST ANGLO–SIKH WAR Confederates were reinforced by fresh 1896 ■ NORTHERN ETHIOPIA ■ ETHIOPIAN they met the 50,000-strong Mahdist troops arriving by train, and they mounted EMPIRE VS. KINGDOM OF ITALY Sudanese army. Kitchener’s army 1846 ■ NORTHERN INDIA ■ a general charge that dispelled the Union positioned itself by the river, with EAST INDIA COMPANY VS. SIKH EMPIRE forces, who fled to Washington. For both By the 1890s, Ethiopia was one of two gunboats providing covering fire. On sides, a long, hard war was ahead. African states entirely free of European September 2, the Mahdists launched By the early 19th century, Britain—under control. The neighboring state, Eritrea, a frontal assault at dawn, but as they the directorship of the East India Company— THIRD BATTLE was controlled by Italy, but Ethiopia’s advanced over open ground they were controlled most of India; the Sikh empire OF NANJING ruler, Menelik II, refused to accept Italian cut down by the combined fire of artillery, was based in the Punjab. In 1845, war tutelage. In 1895, Menelik assembled an gunboats, machine guns, and rifles. broke out, and in December, British forces TAIPING REBELLION army to resist Italian incursions. The Kitchener then ordered his infantry narrowly avoided defeat by the Sikh army Italian army led by General Oreste and cavalry to take the offensive, which at Ferozeshah. The armies met again on 1864 ■ EASTERN CHINA ■ TAIPING Baratieri took up a defensive position at exposed them to counterattacks and February 10, 1846, at Sobraon by the HEAVENLY KINGDOM VS. QING the town of Adowa. Baratieri had 18,000 many suffered heavy casualties. The Sutlej River. After cannon bombardments men to Menelik’s 100,000, but he had battle ended with Omdurman under from each side, the British infantry The Taiping Rebellion was an uprising of modern weaponry, and this prompted him British control, Kitchener’s army losing attacked the Sikhs’ fortified camp. Driven a Christian faction led by Hong Xiuquan to take the offensive. Baratieri’s troops fewer than 500 men; the Mahdists lost back with heavy losses, the British (self-proclaimed “Heavenly King”) against moved forward under cover of darkness around 10,000. eventually breached the fortifications, the Qing Dynasty. In the 1850s, the and their cavalry penetrated the camp. Trapped between the British and the river, many Sikhs fought to the death, suffering 10,000 casualties—almost half their army. After this defeat, the Sikhs ceded part of the Punjab. After a war in 1849, the Sikh empire was absorbed into British India.



1900 – CHAPTER 5 PRESENT ■ Mukden (1905) ■ Tsushima (1905) ■ Tannenberg (1914) ■ First Marne (1914) ■ Gallipoli (1915) ■ Verdun (1916) ■ Jutland (1916) ■ The Somme (1916) ■ Passchendaele (1917) ■ Dunkirk (1940) ■ Battle of Britain (1940) ■ Pearl Harbor (1941) ■ Midway (1942) ■ Second Battle of El Alamein (1942) ■ Stalingrad (1942–43) ■ Kursk (1943) ■ Operation Overlord (1944) ■ Operation Market Garden (1944) ■ Battle of the Bulge (1944) ■ Iwo Jima (1945) ■ Inchon (1950) ■ Dien Bien Phu (1954) ■ Six–Day War (1967) ■ Tet Offensive (1968) ■ Operation Desert Storm (1991) ■ Directory: Spion Kop (1900) ■ Caporetto (1917) Warsaw (1920) ■ First and Second Battle of Inonu (1921) Madrid (1936) ■ Shanghai (1937) Imphal (1944) ■ Falaise Pocket (1944) Xuzhou (1948–49) ■ Falklands (1982) Invasion of Iraq (2003)

182 1900–PRESENT Mukden 1905 ◼ NORTHEASTERN CHINA ◼ JAPAN VS. RUSSIA RUSSO–JAPANESE WAR In February 1904, Russia and roughly 290,000 men in the field, against Oyama’s Japan went to war over their rival 207,000. Although Kuropatkin was planning an offensive, territorial claims in Manchuria and the Japanese preempted him by attacking his left flank on Korea. The Japanese besieged February 20. Fighting in snow, ice, and blizzards, Oyama lured Russian troops stationed in Port Kuropatkin into shifting troops to his left, and on February Arthur (now Lüshunkou in eastern 27 he unleashed his best troops against the Russian right. China). After attempting to break Kuropatkin frantically tried to reposition his forces to face the siege and being defeated at the battle of Liaoyang in this onslaught, but his army fell into disorder. Despite September that year, the Russian army retreated north to suffering heavy losses, the Japanese frontal assaults soon the Sha Ho River south of Mukden (now Shenyang). There, the threatened to envelop the Russians; on March 9, Kuropatkin two opposing armies dug into trenches 90 miles (145 km) long. withdrew. This battle, the largest ever fought at the time, The Japanese took Port Arthur in January 1905, and the turned the war in Japan’s favor, preceding the naval clash troops from the siege rejoined the main army at Mukden. at Tsushima (see pp.184–87). This gave Japanese commander Field Marshal Oyama Iwao the chance to attack. Russia could reinforce its army with 4 A BLOODY VICTORY As shown in this 20th-century lithograph, the far greater resources than Japan, so Oyama sought to inflict Japanese at Mukden carried out repeated massed frontal assaults on a crushing defeat before Russia could mobilize any reserves. entrenched troops, at a great cost: each side suffered around 70,000 The Russian commander General Alexei Kuropatkin had casualties. Foreign military observers attributed the Japanese victory to a superior offensive spirit, mistakenly concluding that well-motivated infantry could overcome machine-guns and modern artillery. In context 3 THE BIRTH OF TRENCH WARFARE Japanese soldiers fire from trenches at Mukden. The battle prefigured the trench warfare of World War I: troops with rapid- fire rifles and machine-guns dug in behind barbed wire, while artillery fired high-explosive shells beyond line of sight, guided by forward observers via field telephones. Japan had the technological advantage, with twice as many machine-guns as Russia. 1 RETREAT FROM MUKDEN Wounded Russian soldiers disembark at Vladivostok railroad station. After the battle, the Russian army abandoned their equipment and their wounded in a stampede to the rear, but they avoided a total rout, reforming in defensive positions 100 miles (160 km) to the north. The Japanese victory at Tsushima (see pp.184–87) and upheavals in Russia helped decide the war’s outcome: in September 1905, Russia surrendered control of Korea to Japan, and evacuated southern Manchuria.

MUKDEN ◼ 1905 183

184 1900–PRESENT 1 LETHAL BOMBARDMENT A Russian battleship is struck by a high-explosive shell fired from the line of Japanese warships at Tsushima. Skilled Japanese naval gunners achieved numerous hits at ranges up to 20,000 ft (6,000 m). The Russians lost six battleships in the two-day engagement.

TSUSHIMA ◼ 1905 185 Tsushima 1905 ◼ KOREA STRAIT ◼ JAPAN VS. RUSSIA RUSSO–JAPANESE WAR In October 1904, Russia dispatched a naval squadron, commanded by Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, on an 18,000-nautical-mile (33,000-km) voyage from the Baltic to join the war it was fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific. The stakes could not have been higher. A Japanese victory would have forced Russia to abandon its expansionist policies in the Far East—leaving Japan to pursue its own—and Japan was already on the brink of winning the land war (see pp.180–81). After a grueling seven-month journey, the squadron had to pass close to Japan to reach the port of Vladivostok. The Japanese Imperial Combined Fleet (a total of 89 ships), under Admiral Togo Heihachiro, was waiting to intercept them. During the early hours of May 27, the 38 Russian ships were spotted slipping through the Tsushima Strait under the cover of darkness. That afternoon, using wireless to organize a rapid response, Togo gave pursuit and engaged the Russian fleet. Through superior Japanese long-range gunnery, four Russian battleships were sunk by nightfall. Japanese destroyers and torpedo boats harassed the remnants of the Russian fleet throughout the night, and the following morning most surviving Russian vessels surrendered. A total of 20 Russian ships had been sunk at a cost of over 4,500 lives. It was the first time in the modern era that an Asian power had defeated a European military force, and it marked the beginning of the end of the Czarist regime in Russia. ADMIRAL TOGO HEIHACHIRO (1848–1934) Togo Heihachiro was born into the Satsuma samurai clan, which provided most officers for the Imperial Navy. Sent to Britain for training in the 1870s, he took Nelson as his role model. He came to prominence in 1894 commanding a cruiser in the Sino-Japanese War. Leading the Imperial Combined Fleet, he opened the Russo- Japanese War with a surprise attack on Port Arthur and ended it with victory at Tsushima. 4 Admiral Togo's defeat of the Russians made him a national hero in Japan.

186 1900–PRESENT In detail Tsushima was the first fleet engagement fought Togo then twice “crossed the T”—turning his fleet across the head of the Russian line, a maneuver that brought between steel warships firing high-explosive shells. The all his guns to bear on the hapless enemy. The Russian ships were battered by the Japanese shellfire and Japanese had better-trained crews, more skillful gunnery, Admiral Rozhestvensky was put out of action by a shell fragment lodged in his skull. As the Russian fleet became higher morale, and faster ships. They used their speed to disorganized, they fell prey to smaller Japanese ships armed with torpedoes and equipped for night fighting. maneuver around the Russian squadron, blocking its path € to Vladivostok and using maximum firepower. The first 2:30pm: salvos were exchanged at 20,000 ft (6,000 m) as the two Togo crosses the T, bringing all his main fleets steamed in line astern on a parallel course. guns to bear on the Russian ships, while 4 TSUSHIMA, 1905 This keeping them mostly sketch shows how Admiral out of the line of fire of Togo outmaneuvered the all but the guns of the Russian squadron during Russian lead ships. the first afternoon of the battle. Some of his ¢ maneuvers were risky, especially the “turn in 2:50pm: sequence” (3), which Unable to find a dangerously exposed his way through to the ships to enemy fire. The north, the Russian Russian gunners in fact fleet is forced to achieved many hits on change course. Japanese vessels, but the latter's armor proved ¶ highly effective. 6pm: ¡ After a break in the fighting, Togo 2:10pm: reengages the The Japanese fleet disorganized Russians, steams northeast, inflicting yet more blocking the Russians’ losses before nightfall. path to Vladivostok. # 2:40pm: Togo turns his fleet in sequence, keeping his flagship in the van, rather than having each ship turn individually and thereby reversing the order of sailing. ∞ 3pm: Togo crosses the T for the second time, raining further destruction on the Russians. § 3pm: The Russians suffer heavy losses, including Rozhestvensky’s flagship Knjaz Suvorov.

TSUSHIMA ◼ 1905 187 2 RUSSIA DEFEATED This depiction of Tsushima by Japanese artist Tojo Shotaro shows the two fleets unrealistically close together. The defeat of the Russian navy by an Asian fleet was a stinging blow to European assumptions of superiority in the imperialist era. 3 ROUTE TO TSUSHIMA This Russian map shows the route taken by Rozhestvensky’s squadron from the Baltic. After mistakenly firing on British trawlers in the North Sea—known as the Dogger Bank Incident—the fleet was then denied passage through the British-controlled Suez Canal. Sailing around Africa, they had difficulty finding coaling stations at which to refuel. In southeast Asia, Rozhestvensky’s squadron was joined by ships that had taken the shorter Suez route. 1 HIJMS MIKASA Admiral Togo’s British-built flagship Mikasa was a state-of-the-art battleship when it was commissioned in 1902. It boasted four turret-mounted 12-in guns, as well as a range of lesser armaments, and Krupp steel plates for armor. Mikasa led the Japanese line at Tsushima. 2 WIRELESS COMMUNICATION This Morse key from the battleship Mikasa was used to transmit messages by wireless telegraphy. Without this means of communication Admiral Togo would not have been able to organize such a rapid response to the Russian fleet’s arrival.

188 1900–PRESENT Tannenberg 1914 ◼ MODERN-DAY NORTHERN POLAND ◼ GERMANY VS. RUSSIA WORLD WAR I At the start of World War I in executed a large-scale encirclement of Samsonov’s army, August 1914, Germany committed a straggling mass after an overly rapid advance. Blocked at most of its armies to attacking the front and attacked from both flanks, between August 26 Belgium and France on the Western and 29 the Second Army was reduced to disorder. Facing Front, leaving relatively limited disaster, Samsonov shot himself. Over 90,000 Russians were forces to face Russia on the Eastern trapped by the German pincer movement and taken prisoner. Front. They expected the Russians The battle made Hindenburg and Ludendorff German heroes; to be slow to mobilize, so they were surprised when two the Russian Empire continued to fight for another three Russian armies advanced on German soil in East Prussia years, but never truly recovered from this initial disaster. in the third week of the war. The German Eighth Army commander, General Maximilian von Prittwitz, failed to halt PAUL VON HINDENBURG (1847–1934) AND the Russian advance at Gumbinnen (now Gusev, Russia), and ERICH LUDENDORFF (1865–1937) ordered a general retreat. Shocked at the idea of sacrificing territory, German high command sacked Prittwitz, replacing A Prussian aristocrat, Hindenburg retired in 1911 after a solid military him with General Paul von Hindenburg. career. Recalled in August 1914, he commanded the Eastern Front with The commanders of the Russian First and Second the intelligent, neurotic Ludendorff as his chief of staff. The stolid Armies, Generals Paul von Rennenkampf and Alexander Hindenburg and volatile Ludendorff formed a strong partnership, and Samsonov, were bitter enemies. Hindenburg and General Erich from summer 1916 they ruled Germany, in effect, as a military dictatorship. Ludendorff (see box, right) learned from intercepted radio messages that Samsonov planned to continue advancing, but that Rennenkampf had no intention of supporting him. They therefore concentrated almost all their forces on Samsonov’s advancing Second Army, leaving only a light screen facing Rennenkampf. Moving troops swiftly by rail, the Germans 3 GERMAN INFANTRY ON THE MOVE Wearing their traditional pickelhaube 1 Hindenburg (center) and Ludendorff (front right) photographed helmets, German soldiers march on the Eastern Front. Many of Hindenburg’s at their command post at Tannenberg in 1914. troops at Tannenberg were relatively elderly reserves or local Landwehr militia, the best formations having been deployed in the West.

TANNENBERG ◼ 1914 189 German forces shown in blue encircling the Russian forces Samsonov’s Russian Second Army shown in red German corps moved by train to south of Russian army 1 CONTEMPORARY MAP The main map shows the encirclement of Samsonov’s army (red) by German forces (blue) in the forests east of Tannenberg. The inset map shows the advance into East Prussia of Rennenkampf’s First Army in the north and Samsonov’s Second Army in the south.

190 1900–PRESENT First Marne 1914 ◼ NORTHERN FRANCE ◼ GERMANY VS. FRANCE AND BRITAIN WORLD WAR I In the first five from the French Sixth Army, stationed north of weeks of World War I, Paris, and from the Paris garrison commanded by from the start of August General Joseph Gallieni. Moreover, the commander- into September 1914, in-chief of the French forces, General Joseph Joffre, the advance of the was an unflappable character who remained German armies was resolute in the face of huge losses. unstoppable across Belgium and southward into France, driving The BEF, which had retreated south beyond French troops and the BEF (British Expeditionary the Marne, joined in the counteroffensive with Force) before them in headlong retreat. However, the French Fifth Army to their right. Unnerved according to the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans by the Allied counterattacks, German Chief of were to turn to the west of Paris and then march Staff Helmuth von Moltke ordered a withdrawal. south and east to encircle the French. However, His First and Second Armies fell back to the weakened by the loss of 11 divisions that were Aisne River, where they entrenched in a strong needed elsewhere, the Germans turned to the defensive position on September 12. With Paris east of Paris and headed south to the Marne safe, the prospect of a swift German victory— River, which formed a barrier running east to scheduled to take six weeks—had evaporated. west. This exposed their flank to a counterattack By the year’s end, the opposing armies were dug into trenches from the Channel to the Swiss border. In context 2 FRENCH CAVALRYMEN AFTER FIRST MARNE Cavalry played a significant role in the early mobile stage of World War I, ranging over the countryside on reconnaissance missions and harassing enemy formations in retreat. However, horsemen were vulnerable to machine-gun and rapid rifle fire, and proved ineffectual once battlefields were strewn with trenches and barbed wire. 2 FRENCH 75MM FIELD GUN The mobile “Soixante-Quinze” was the most effective rapid-fire artillery piece in any army at the start of the war. Capable of firing 30 rounds a minute, its chief function was to support the advance of massed French infantry over open ground. The 75s inflicted heavy losses on the Germans, but could not prevent enemy firepower from mowing down French troops.

FIRST MARNE ◼ 1914 191 1FRENCH TROOPS DISEMBARK FROM TAXIS For want of other transportation, many French soldiers arrived at the battlefield in buses and taxis. The mobilization was enormous: two million men fought in the week-long battle, each side suffering 250,000 casualties.

192 1900–PRESENT Gallipoli 1915 ◼ NOTHWESTERN TURKEY ◼ OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND GERMANY VS. BRITAIN AND FRANCE WORLD WAR I In March 1915, British and French south, while an Australian and New Zealand (ANZAC) force warships attempted to sail through went ashore farther north at Gaba Tepe. The landings faced the Dardanelles strait and bombard stiff opposition, and troops made little progress inland. The Constantinople, with the aim of ANZAC soldiers had also landed in the wrong place and were knocking Turkey out of the war. trapped by counterattacking Turkish forces as they scrambled Coming under fire from Turkish up from the beach through rocky ridges and ravines. artillery, the naval attack failed, and the decision was made to land troops on the Gallipoli peninsula. Led by German adviser Liman von Sanders and Turkish They were to seize control of the shores of the strait and general Mustafa Kemal, the Turks held their ground. The Allies thus enable the warships to get through. On April 25, British made fresh landings at Suvla Bay in August, accompanied by troops landed at Cape Helles, supported by the French to the renewed attacks elsewhere on the peninsula. However, only limited gains were achieved at the cost of heavy losses in

GALLIPOLI ◼ 1915 193 Men, I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die. GENERAL MUSTAFA KEMAL, ORDERS TO INFANTRY, APRIL 25, 1915 frontal assaults on prepared defenses, while thousands also British/French battleship to Suvla Bay 0 km 1 2 died of disease in the unsanitary conditions. The British fired Sunk battleship their commander, General Sir Ian Hamilton, in October, and soon Allied landings, April 1915 Gaba Tepe 0 miles 1 2 afterward the decision was made to withdraw. By January, Major Turkish gun battery 140,000 troops were evacuated without further loss. Turkish minefields GALLIPOLI Dardanelles Some 44,000 Allied troops had died in the battle. PENINSULA N 3 COMING ASHORE AT GALLIPOLI Brought to Gallipoli aboard troop Narrowest part of straits transports, British and French soldiers were ferried ashore in small boats, defended by Turkish since specialized landing craft were not yet widely used. In many places forts and artillery they came under fire as they landed, suffering heavy losses. Elsewhere, the enemy counterattacked as troops attempted to advance inland. Series of 10 minefields blocking narrows # British open fire, then Aegean French pass through to ¢ Sea advance on forts As French turn to € withdraw, Bouvet strikes a mine. More Battleships advance in ships hit mines as they withdraw three lines: two British, ¡ one French HeClalepse Turkish minefield along edge of straits Kum Kale Outer defenses cleared by naval TURKEY bombardment 1 FAILED NAVAL ASSAULT The Dardanelles strait connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara was blocked by sea mines and defended by Turkish guns in fortified positions. Allied troops were meant to take Gallipoli and seize the shores of the strait, but, blocked by Turkish troops holding high ground, they never penetrated far beyond their landing sites. THE ANZACS At the outbreak of World War I, 1Young Australians are urged to join Australians and New Zealanders the ANZAC troops fighting at Gallipoli in responded enthusiastically this recruitment poster from 1915. to their governments’ call for volunteers to fight on the other side of the world. Together, they formed ANZAC, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Trained initially in Egypt, ANZAC troops experienced a savage baptism of fire at Gallipoli. Moved to the Western Front in 1916, they earned an enviable reputation as tough, skillful soldiers in the battles of the Somme and Passchendaele, and were used as spearhead troops in the victorious Allied offensives of 1918. Some 60,000 Australians and 17,000 New Zealanders died in the war.

194 1900–PRESENT Verdun 1916 ◼ NORTHERN FRANCE ◼ GERMANY VS. FRANCE WORLD WAR I German Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn chose the fortress city of Verdun in eastern France as the target for a major offensive in February 1916. His aim was to bleed France dry. The French forts defending Verdun had been stripped of most of their guns, taken for use on more active sectors of the front, and the French trenches were poorly constructed and undermanned. Falkenhayn assembled 1,200 guns for his offensive, including massive 420 mm howitzers. The French were slow to respond, and when the Germans attacked on February 21 they were outnumbered two to one. Pulverized by artillery fire, the French frontline positions were overrun. The largest Verdun fort, Fort Douaumont, fell on February 25. Nevertheless, the French government decided that Verdun must be held at all costs— a task that was entrusted to General Philippe Pétain. Supplied along a single road dubbed the Voie Sacrée (“Sacred Way”), the French army dug in to resist the German attacks. By June, German troops were close to taking Verdun, but from July many had to be transferred to meet Allied offensives on the Eastern front and the Somme. The French, now commanded by General Robert Nivelle, seized the initiative against the weakened German forces. By the time fighting subsided in December, French counteroffensives had regained much of the ground originally lost. The inconclusive battle is believed to have cost 700,000 French and German casualties. PIGEONS AT WAR Millions of animals served in World War I, including horses, mules, camels, dogs, and over 100,000 carrier pigeons. These birds were often the most efficient method of battlefield communication, carrying messages attached to their legs through shellfire and poison gas. At Verdun, pigeons won special celebrity when French troops under Major Sylvain Raynal were trapped inside Fort Vaux in June 1916. As the French desperately resisted the Germans in the tunnels and passageways of the fortress, pigeons were their only mean of signaling to relief troops outside. One was even awarded the Légion d’honneur in gratitude. 4 This German pigeon had a miniature camera attached to its breast so that it could fly photo-reconnaissance missions.

VERDUN ◼ 1916 195 1 FRENCH INFANTRY AT VERDUN Shellfire inflicted the largest proportion of casualties on both sides in the 10-month battle at Verdun. Individual French units only served short spells on the battlefield. As a result of this rotation, three-quarters of the entire French army fought there at some time. French morale held up during the battle, but collapsed the following spring, causing many French soldiers to mutiny.

196 1900–PRESENT 2 GEORGES GUYNEMER French pilot Georges In detail Guynemer was one of the first fighter aces At the Battle of Verdun, both sides used of World War I. He flew innovative tactics. In their initial infantry attack, with one of the Cigogne which followed a massive preparatory artillery fighter squadrons that bombardment, the Germans made use of combatted German “Stormtroopers”—specially trained assault troops aces such as Oswald equipped with hand grenades and flamethrowers— Boelcke and Manfred von to clear French frontline trenches and penetrate Richthofen over Verdun. beyond them in depth. When the French mounted Propagandists on both successful counterattacks from August 1916, they sides promoted their implementedartillery and infantry known as the aces as invincible, but “creeping barrage.” Instead of depending solely on most had short lives. a preparatory bombardment to suppress enemy Guynemer had shot defenses before the infantry went “over the top,” down 53 aircraft the French guns continued firing over the heads of when he was killed the troops as they moved forward, striking targets in September 1917, only a short distance in front of the advancing aged just 22. soldiers. Using this method, the French took enemy frontline positions with relative ease: deeper advances proved difficult to coordinate. Aerial reconnaissance played a vital part in the fighting, since only aircraft could pinpoint targets for the heavy artillery firing far beyond visual range. The world’s first struggle for air superiority took place over Verdun, because both sides organized fighter squadrons to protect their own reconnaissance aircraft and prevent the enemy from carrying out aerial observation. Despite such tactical innovations, however, the scale of firepower available to both sides ensured that any attack was costly and only gained very limited areas of territory. Front line at the start of battle, February 20 4 THE VERDUN BATTLEFIELD The battle of Verdun was fought on both banks of the Meuse River. The initial German offensive on the east bank in February made substantial initial progress, until French resistance stiffened. In March, the Germans renewed their offensive on the west bank, leading to desperate fighting for Hill 304 and Mort Homme. In a further advance in June, the Germans took Fort Vaux, but the following month they failed to seize Fort Souville. A series of French counteroffensives subsequently rolled back the line on the east bank.

VERDUN ◼ 1916 197 2 FORT DOUAUMONT In the 1890s, the French ringed Verdun with concrete- and-steel forts, but by 1916 these were vulnerable to Krupp siege artillery. Still, the fall of Fort Douaumont, the largest fortress, to a German assault in the first week of the offensive came as a severe shock. It was recaptured after heavy fighting in October 1916. 3 THEY SHALL NOT PASS In a message to his troops at Verdun June 23, 1916, General Nivelle urged his men not to let the enemy pass. Simplified to the phrase “On ne passe pas” (“They shall not pass”), this became a famous war slogan expressing the fortitude of the French infantrymen. In the last year of the war, it was used in this propaganda poster designed by Maurice Neumont. Front line at the end of battle, December 18 (including red line to the left) Line reached by the Germans by July 1 Fortress city of Verdun

198 1900–PRESENT 4 GERMAN IMPERIAL NAVY Despite a major shipbuilding program before 1914, the German navy was outnumbered and outgunned by the Royal Navy. The German fleet spent most of World War I bottled up in port, apart from occasional sorties into the North Sea, such as the one that led to the Battle of Jutland. Here, part of the German High Seas Fleet steams in line astern before the battle.